Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“If you refuse to let them go, I will plague your whole country with frogs. The river shall swarm with frogs; they shall come up into your palace, into your bedchamber and your bed, and into the houses of your officials and of your people, and into your ovens and your kneading bowls. The frogs shall come up on you and on your people and on all your officials.”
NL Daily Devotion for Thursday, September 26, 2024
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
An illustration of the 2nd plague by my brother when he was 11.
I’m sorry but I can’t see this as a bad thing. Notwithstanding my brother’s horrific (and hilarious) illustration of this plague when he was eleven (above), I’ll be honest. Frogs are my absolute favorite animal in the whole world. Every time I catch sight of one out in the wild, I am filled with elated gratitude. The idea of them being absolutely everywhere is… well… kind of amazing.
I don’t mean to make light. (Well, maybe I do.) These plagues were supposed to be horrible and convince Pharaoh that it was just too costly to hang onto the Israelite slaves. That it would be far better for everyone to just let them go, regardless of what impact it might have on the Egyptian economy, etc. And many of them were truly harrowing (and they got worse as they went). After all, in order for people to make a change, it has to be less painful than keeping things the same. I’m just saying that if you wanted to motivate me to do something difficult, threatening me with frogs wouldn’t cut it.
Which plagues do I see as the least scary? The most?
